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The "Dark Ages" in what is now Western Europe sometimes conjure images of a very low-tech society --- replete with outright barbarism and boiling vats of gruel. But the early Middle Ages (or “Dark Ages”) — a longtime historical pejorative — were actually a time of great technological progress, medieval scholars now say.

A scarcity of written records has given rise to the misconception that the early Middle Ages --- roughly correlating with the end of the Roman
Empire in the West (around 476 A.D.) to about 1000 A.D. --- were unrelentingly primitive, says Benjamin Hudson, a professor of history and medieval studies at Penn State University.

Yet in many ways medievalists were centuries ahead of their time; intrinsically-linked to their landscape and intent on looking for alternative means to harness the power of nature. Part of the Dark Ages’ image problems, says Hudson, is tied to the nature of scientific development, which in the case of technology was incremental.

Petrarch, who conceived the idea of a European "Dark Age". From Cycle of Famous Men and Women, Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla, c. 1450 (Credit: Wikipedia)

“The people making the discoveries often could not read or write,” said Hudson. “The literate class was the clergy, who had limited interest in science.”

The water-powered blast furnace is seen by some as the greatest technological development of the epoch; since it enabled iron to smelt at higher temperatures and much faster and more cheaply than any previous technology.

High-quality horse stirrups were a byproduct of such improved smelting techniques which; as Paolo Squatriti, a medieval historian at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, points out, enabled a mounted rider to whack his opponents over the head without falling out of the saddle. “This made the ‘knight in shining armor’ possible,” he said.

Although the Classical world that preceded the Dark Ages was aware of basic engineering techniques and energy sources, it depended on slave labor, says Hudson.

“Among the Roman [aristocracy] there was an overweening disdain for the mechanical arts, to such an extent that even reading was considered manual labor,” said Squatriti. “So, you sat back and listened while a slave read to you.”

The idea that manual work was “bad,” says Squatriti, spread with the result that an aristocratic Roman who had the time and resources to devote to the pursuit of technology would never have done such research because he considered it “way below his status.”

As Squatriti asks: Why invent a machine to do labor when you had all your defeated enemies to do it?

To be sure, one major driver for tech development in the Dark Ages was simply the dismantlement of the Roman Empire and the fact that there were no longer enormous amounts of slave labor. Starting in 200 A.D., says Squatriti, there’s also a massive decline in population; especially in the former Roman Western provinces.

The collapse of Roman imperial authority in Northern Europe was accompanied by a technological crisis, Hudson notes. For early Europe, he says these changed circumstances led to improved metal refining techniques in Scandinavia in the 9th century. And in the 10th century, he says development of the windmill allowed for a renewable energy source when water was frozen for months at a time in Northern Europe.

“Where we find centers of economic activity we see technological advances and vice versa,” said Anne McCants, an economic historian at MIT. “So, shipping technologies are the big story in 7th and 8th century North Sea centers inhabited by Vikings, Friesians and the like.”

Sometimes called the Dark Age Emporia, McCants says these regions were hubs of economic activity; connected to vast trading networks that stretched from the Black Sea into the far reaches of the North Atlantic.